It falls apart when no new "bets" are placed, just like any other pyramid game.  As long as new bets come in, older bets get paid.  No new bets = collapse.

What I like about this implementation is the low ratio - 1.2x as opposed to 2x or 3x, like the other pyramid games have.  That makes it easier for people to get paid, and contributes to the chances of it running for a long time.

I don't see any reason that this game can't continue for a long time.  It may speed up or slow down, but as long as people keep playing, it will be fine.

The operator has an incentive to be open, honest and transparent in his dealings.  I assume once it's out of "alpha" on July 5th, he'll start to take a % as a fee.  So it's all volume for him then. The more people play, and the longer it runs, the more BTC he makes.

There is a gambling sub-forum here.  It's not the wiki, but there's some good stuff there.  I just found it today (slow, I know) but that's all I've been doing all day. 

I have high hopes for CampBX, opens in a few day.  I hope it works as good as it looks. http://campbx.com/

If it mostly works, and has decent volume ( >= Trade Hill), I'm out of MtGox for good.

I've been gambling BTC all afternoon.  Maybe not economy stimulating, but is IS fun.  

I just discovered the "gambling" sub forum today.  Now I'm in trouble.

It's a lazy Sunday.  I'm going to re-play after each payout, until bedtime. (which is late, because tomorrow is a holiday (USA))

When I get my 2.4 (from 2.0) back, I'm going to send the 0.4 back in.   

OK, they are back.

I put in 2.0, I'm on the confirmed list.  This is fun!

Where did all the unconfirmed go?

BTW, got my payback : 0.18 on my 0.15.   

I just got it for 0.15 BTC.  Looks like fun!   

I have a Diamond 5830.  Can't change the voltage, that I know of, in Linux, just the clock.  I can clock to 975, to get 303 Mh/s.  I have not tried higher.  The fan is pretty loud at 975, and I have to keep the peace with the wife.

I clock the mem down to 200.  Doesn't affect my hash rate, but does lower the temp a bit.

you should have all the sticky pools from Mining-> Pools.  Those are the top 10.

I'm in the Ars Technica pool.  And I have an iPhone.  You see where I'm going with this?   

something is wrong with that statement.

You and your fancy "basement" and "air conditioning" and the "upstairs".  I live in a tiny house that cost WAY too much money.  Of course, I am 2 blocks from the beach in San Diego...  

No air, it's only hot enough to need it about 2 weeks a year.  Instead, in the summer we break out the window fans, for daytime.  It always cools down to the mid 60's F at night, even when it's hot that day.  I've been turning my clock speed UP at night.

Since I have no basement, and my house is tiny, I do have to keep a lid on the fan noise.  You are never far from the computer if you are inside.  So 55% speed is about as high as I can go, and down to 40% at night when the window fans are off (they cover the computer fan noise during the day)

It depends on the GPU.  I'm a  Mac guy, so I don't know what GPU's come in Windows laptops these days.  There's a hardware list / comparison at https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Mining_Hardware_Comparison

CPU mining, or mining on non-ATI cards is a nice way to use what you have to see how the whole thing works, but you're never going to get any money that way.  My MacBook Pro (2009) was getting 2.1 Mh/s on it's Nvidia 9400M.  My file server running linux and an AMD cpu from 2006 was getting 1.2 Mh/s. I threw a ATI 5830 in that file server and now I get 277 Mh/s.

277 Mh/s gets you .2 BTC a day.  So you can imagine how long it would take to get 1 BTC with CPU or Nvidia mining.

This last week on NatGeo (tv) I watched a show called "Explorer: Secret History Of Gold".  (It's on again Tuesday , July 5).

In this show, one of the sub-stories was about a man in South America who was mining gold illegally in the rainforest.  He and other illegal miners had basically destroyed and polluted vast areas of the rainforest in search of gold.  What was there instead of trees were polluted piles of dirt.

I think the environmental impact of BTC pales in comparison to that.

It was a good show, I recommend it to anyone with an interest in money.

But it turns out the "possibly" became "not".

The alternative is to write them down in a little book that you always carry with you.  Or have the same password everywhere.

Whatever solution you use, it's going to be bad.  Unless you have super memory, which I do not.

No thoughts, or no one uses the exchanges?

You win the internets. 

seriously, made me laugh.  Spot on.

I used to use the same password at most sites.  Sites that had non-financial info, of course.  Then Gawker Media got hacked, and that allowed a hacker into my Facebook page, which had the same email and password.

I learned my lesson that day.  I got Last Pass, and all sites now have a unique and complex password.

I guess I don't understand mining contract sellers.  If someone could rent a rig from them, and make money, why wouldn't the contract seller just mine for himself?

So, the seller must think that BTC is going to fall enough in value that it's better to rent time than mine for himself. So, therefore, he is selling what he thinks are false hopes.

Unless he has 1/2 his rigs mining for himself, and 1/2 rented - then he's got both bases covered.  That's the only thing that makes sense to me.

It's clocked at 875 right now, to make 277 Mh/s.  If I clock it to 975, it hits 303 Mh/s, but the fan spins up and it's really loud.  The fan noise at 875 is not bad at all.   Got to keep the marital harmony in the household.